It began inside a jail cell, where a young man hanged himself.What followed was a cascade of death that threatened to engulf the Wind River Indian Reservation.During August and September of 1985, nine young people killed themselves. Most were Northern Arapahos.

In Tumbang Saan, a village of huts built on stilts in Borneo’s vast rainforest, village elder Udatn had a problem. He’s a spiritual leader in Kaharingan, one of a number of names for the ancestor-worshipping, spirit-divining religion of Borneo’s indigenous forest people, the Dayak.

AKARTA, Indonesia - A 47-year-old housewife who recently started using Islamic alternative cures emerged tearfully from an exorcism, speaking of newfound tranquility after a turbulent time in her life. Also, her abdominal pains are finally easing.Suratmi, who suffers from an ovarian cyst, has been taking a mix of herbal treatments harking back to the dawn of Islam, as well as undergoing exorcisms at a clinic in Jakarta.

Swimming in pools of the Elwha River as a child, Adeline Smith pushed salmon out of the way, so thick were the fish in the lower river. "It was nothing to see them everywhere when us kids were in the water, especially in the deep holes. We would scare them away."

“I have been wearing this ‘taveez’ (talisman) since I was a child. I believe it protects me not only from dengue but every other illness,” says Ali Hashmi, pointing to a charm around his neck. Hashmi – in his late twenties, works in Lahore and has not contracted the dengue fever yet – believes that every time he takes off the talisman, trouble finds him.